TwitterCamp on June 21 at Chennai

Pic: tenz1225

Block the date, fellas. June 21st, Sunday. TwitterCamp cometh.

TwitterCamp is a one day unconference where discussions revolve around the concept of Micro-blogging and its various uses. It's an open event. Pretty soon, a wiki will be set up where you can register your name and the topic you would like to speak on.

We have started the hunt for a venue that can hold 150 people. As of now, we have had a very enthusiastic response from US Technologies to help offer their office space as venue.

Calling good designers to help design a logo for TwitterCamp. Please let your imagination fly.

The event is the brainchild of The Knowledge Foundation, the non-profit group that has brought up BarCamp, Proto.in, WikiCamp, MobileMondays etc.

TwitterCamp is a true unconfernce, meaning that anyone can participate and help out in organizing. If you would like to offer a helping hand, please send an email to ganesh @ rupya.com.

Looking for TEDIndia Fellows

We all know that TED is coming to Mysore, India later this year. As part of the event, TED is looking to select 100 TED Fellows.

TED Fellows are remarkable thinkers and doers who have shown unusual accomplishment, exceptional courage, moral imagination and the potential to increase positive change in their respective fields. They can be innovators in technology, entertainment, design, science, film, art, music, entrepreneurship or the NGO community, among other pursuits.

The application to apply for a TEDIndia Fellow opened on April 20th and runs till June 15th.

The TEDIndia Fellows program will have international representation with a distinctly South Asian majority, with approximately 75% of the Fellows representing the South Asian region, and 25% representing other regions of the world. South Asia is defined as including the countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.

For more information about how individuals may apply for a TEDIndia Fellowship, please visit
http://www.ted.com/fellows/apply. TED Fellows may apply or be nominated by another individual.

If you know a great person who fits the bill, please do highlight them. You can either directly nominate them or mention them in the comments below. Lets aim at bringing the hidden gems out in the limelight. Great achievers deserve the spotlight.

My First Advertising Experience

I got a call from Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency, saying that they are doing an advertising campaign for ChennaiLive and that they would like to feature me in the advertisement.

The first question that I asked Rangesh, the head of the project, was "Why me?". Not that I was being modest but I was genuinely interested in knowing the reason why they had picked me. He then began to explain the concept. They had selected 10 people from various fields who have made a difference to Chennai and wanted me to be there from a technology/Internet perspective.

He then began to say who the other folks were.

1. Benny Dayal, a popular cine playback singer who is part of A.R.Rahman troupe. He has sung for Delhi 6, Ghajini, Ayan and many more. 
   
   
2. Sarath Babu, the real life slumdog millionaire who after IIM A, decided to set up a food chain. He sold idlis when he was a kid. He's now contesting the Lok Sabha elections. 
   
   
3. Venkat Prabhu, Film Director who's two films Chennai 6000028 & Saroja have been hits. 
   
   
4. Pratap, Head, Human Resources, Sony Ericsson Asia Pacific
   
   
5. Taara Rhine, Cultural Assistant, Allaince Francais 
   
   
6. Swathi Iyengar, Tai Chi expert 
   
   
7. Murali, Gold Gym, Fitness expert 
   
   
8. Mahadevan,  who runs a Rs.400 crore food empire. Think Hot Breads, Planet Yumm, Wangs Kitchen, Zaras, Don Pepe, Benjarong etc.
   
   
9. Chaitanya Rao,Chennai's leading Fashion Designer, 

An impressive list. It reminded me of Cerebrate, where we were aiming to rope in interesting folks from different fields.

I found it a bit fascinating when I was told that this was not a celebrity endorsement and that I will not be paid for it!  I guess they wanted to make things clear. 

And so a couple of days later, the crew landed up at my apartment for the photo shoot.  It's amazing how long a simple photo shoot can last.  Just for that one single photo, the shoot lasted over four hours. It would have lasted longer had it not been the setting of the sun that evening.  And this is not including the test shoot that was done a day earlier. 

This makeup man has been in business for over 30 years and has worked on some of the biggest heros and heroines.  As he was giving me layers of paint and powder, we engaged in some interesting conversation about his profession.  By the time he was done with me, I was looking like a drama artist. 

There was this instrument that the crew was constantly using. They told me its to check the light intensity and pretty much the same thing that the cricket umpires use. 




The crew in action. There was a professional photographer, a visualizer, project coordinator, light boy and the makeup man. I forgot the photographer's name but distinctly remember him to be a very affable guy who had an amazing smiling face. While he was shooting pics, he would engage me in conversation and crack jokes to get me to smile natually.  

By this time, the light was fading fast.  The crew brought out a shiny white material in order to reflect more light on to me.  They wanted me to pose with a laptop. But my laptop was at home which would mean losing precious few minutes. So, the photographer gave me his MacBook to hold. 

And so, here's the final ad.  Amazing how they can pep up things.   Notice the magical disappearance of the Apple logo.  You can see that in my photo but not in the Ad. Guess, its been morphed out. 

Click here for a bigger version of the ad.  The text that accompanies the had has a few factual errors.  The copy intends to say I "run" Wikipedia India which is incorrect. Wikipedia is a community project and I play an active part in helping spreading its usage.  Have requested O&M to correct the text. 

 I had the first real 'behind-the-scenes' view of the advertising world. The people here are creatively brilliant and at the same time, wacky.  They are also perfectionist to the core. The minutest angle changes and the slightest light correction matter to them.  Overall, the entire experience was fascinating. I'm told that the ads will go live sometime early next month. 

Chennai Facebook Developer Garage

The first Facebook Developer Garage in Chennai takes place today (March 15th) at 2PM. Its a community event in an unconference mode where we get a chance to explore, get gritty, tinker, experiment, and test out ideas for Facebook Platform. The idea is to get our hands dirty, and explore fresh ideas and solutions.

The event is not just for hardcore techies but also for business folks who would like to know how to leverage social networks effectively. Social Networks can be potent tools for building online communities, PR, brand building, talent scouting & recruitment amongst others.

Thomas Jestin, who is the winner of the Facebook App Contest will be demoing his app. Philip Urech, a Swiss national, will present his experience on how United Nations used Facebook and social networks in their Nuclear Disarmament campaign.

Photon has been kind enough to offer their office space as the venue. Here's the address.

Photon Infotech
No. 2/102, Photon Towers,
Old Mahabalipuram Road, Karapakkam,
Chennai.

Here's the direction to the venue.



For more information on directions and venue, please call Vasanth at 98409 59948 or me at 98415 97744.

Here are the other logos that we designed for the Garage.

The Epicurean Encore

I vividly remember the first meeting with Jigyasa Giri & Pratibha Jain. It was a couple of years ago when they had invited me home for a wonderful spread of absolutely yummy home-cooked meal. The recipe for each of the food item was taken from their best selling, award winning book, 'Cooking at Home with Pedatha'. The book went on to win the prestigious 'Gourmand' Award for the 'The Best Vegetarian Book in the World' in 2006.

The success of their first book encouraged them to publish their second book titled 'Sukham Ayu', a carefully researched book which is the quintessence of an ayuvedic diet. The book is a wonderful collection of recipes consisting of simple, vegetarian dishes with the goodness of Ayurvedic insights.



From left to right : Pratibha Jain (standing behind the podium) is a Ph.D in Languages and runs a language translation service. Jigyasa Giri (with the mic) is a Kathak dancer and choreographer. To her left is Latha Menon, documentary and adfilm maker and wife of Rajeev Menon, famed cinematographer and film maker. Next to her is Andrea Jeremiah, model, Jazz musician, singer, theatre personality and actress. Right most is me, singularly representing the male community, having been overpowered by a very eloquent, multi-talented, beautiful women.



When my turn came to speak, it was rather easy for me. I spoke from my heart. Not only was I impressed with Jigyasa's and Pratibha's passion for food and their ability to author books, I was quite impressed with their marketing ability. While writing a book is tough ( oh, just ask me!) , getting the book marketed is even tougher. I personally think that both of them did an outstanding work in using the Internet to get the word around.

They were also living my dream. I always wanted to document my grandmothers' lives so that their rich experiences and fond memories can be passed on to my daughters and their kids. It always remained a wish list and when I meet someone who walked the talk, they instantly gain my respect.



The book is based on extensive research done at KARE, a health retreat in Pune. Dr.Prakash Kalmadi, Founder and Medical Director at KARE was so impressed with their first book, 'Cooking at Home with Pedatha', that he invited the authors to his retreat to start work on an Ayuvedic cookbook.

Just before the event was about to start at the Landmark bookstore in Nungambakkam, an old friend bumped into me. He happened to be there at the bookshop and when he learned that I was there for the book launch function, he asked me, "What's the connection with you and cooking?". He caught me off guard and I sheepishly replied, "Eating"!

Writing for The Financial Express on Facebook. What's Your View?

The Financial Times has requested me to write a balanced story on the whole Facebook privacy issue.  What's the issue?   Facebook claims that whatever your write is theirs. 

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute any User Content you post.

I'd like to get your view on what you think of this.  Are you feeling insecure with what Facebook can do with your content?  Is it right for Facebook to own what is rightfully yours?  Or are we unnecessarily crying foul considering that most of the sites anyways has the same clause from the beginning? Maybe its just media hype to fill the space and air time?  

Whatever your views are, however strong and critical they may be, do send them to me. If you are OK with it, I may use your opinion in the article. Please make sure to type in your full name and your designation. On the contrary if you don't want to get printed, please explicitly state that as well. I respect your right to privacy! 

You can either leave your opinion as a comment to this post or mail it to me at Kiruba @ Kiruba.com. Thanks in advance. 

My Speaking Schedule : Walking My Talk

One of my goals for 2009 is to get better at public speaking. While many say that they have enjoyed my talks, deep inside me, I know I could've done much better. Way better.   My heart always cringes when I miss an opportunity to deliver a knock-out performance (and not just a good performance).  I think there's a sea of difference between a good performance and a Knock-out performance.  My ex-boss calls it "hitting the ball out of the park".   

Unfortunately, a knock-out performance also requires an extraordinary effort. Quite honestly, I've never been the sort of guy to prepare for a talk weeks in advance. It's always been a slog-over effort. While that's sufficient for a 'good performance', its just is never good enough to hit that sixer. 

Over the next few weeks and months,  I'll be putting on an honest effort to correct myself, imbibe the qualities that I've admired in other speakers and to do justice to the qualities that what people believe I have. I'll document my efforts, tricks, pitfalls of my journey and hope to learn from you all. 

Thankfully, I've had a few opportunities lined up and I *really* hope to walk my talk.  Here's what my schedule looks like. 


The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Bombay is organizing the annual The Entrepreneurship Summit on 7th Feb. The event hosts Eureka'08, Asia's biggest business plan competition. I've been invited to be a mentor and look forward to sharing my expertise and helping the folks out.

At the same event, I'll be the moderator for a panel discussion titled 'What are the pitfalls to avoid before starting up'.  I've got a kickarse panelists of successful entrepreneurs and a great audience.  Moderating panels is a bit more challenging than speaking at a panel and look forward to it.

It's the biggest NASSCOM event with the who's who of CXOs.  I've been invited as the official podcaster for the event and look forward to interacting with some of the best minds in the industry.  

It's the biggest annual PR event for PRCAI ( Public Relations Consultants Association of India) and I'm a panelist for a session titled, 'New Media v/s Traditional Media'.  My hands are already itching!  Can't wait. 

After a long time, there's a session from STC Chennai taking place and I'm speaking on how Technical Writers can benefit from Social Media.  The event takes place on 21st February. 

The talk should've happened last week if the TamilNadu govt would not have announced a blanket shut down of all colleges because of the SriLankan crisis.  I'm told my talk at the college has been pushed to next week and I'll be speaking on 'Making the most of the Downturn'. 

The biggest SEO and SEM event in India makes a comeback after a successful show in 2007. The event is happening on Feb 28th & March 1st.  I'm co-organizing the event as part of The Knowledge Foundation and will also speak on how Social Media can help enhance your Web footprint resulting in better search results. 

The 2nd Facebook Developers Garage 

I'm told that the Symbiosis students really liked my talk at the 'FootPrints' event in Chennai and have invited me back to their annual event called 'Cyber Media Conclave' taking place at their beautiful campus in Pune.  Don't know the exact dates but I'm told its scheduled for mid-year. 

The event that really captured my attention is this PR 2.0  event that will take place in Tehran, Iran. It's organized by the Iran PR professionals and pleasantly surprised by how much interest they have in leveraging the Net as a medium.  I'll be keynoting at this event and will be speaking on how Govt organizations can leverage the power of Social Media. The event takes place on July 9th. 

The Photologue of the Tamil Wikipedia Academy

Amongst all the Wikipedia Academies held earlier, I would rate this Tamil Wikipedia as the one which had the highest learning quotient. About 15 interested folks had turned up to learn about how to contribute to Tamil Wikipedia. We learnt what it takes to contribute to Tamil Wikipedia while also learning some shocking statistics that almost made me put my head down in shame. 

While Tamil Wikipedia has close to 17,000+ articles, most of these have been contributed by a small team of 50 Wikipedians.  In other words, there are only around 50 Tamil Wikipedians worldwide, out of which only about 10 are consistently active 

Most contributions to Tamil Wikipedia are done by Srilankan Tamils who live in other countries like Canada, US and Malaysia.  It's a matter of shame that we in Tamilnadu don't do much. A situation that must be changed. 

Telugu Wikipedia leads the pack with 42,000+ articles.  Once again, most of the contribution is by people living outside India. 

That's what put in the seed for having more Wikipedia Academies that will encourage more regional language contribution from people within India.  

We had two experienced Wikipedias, Ravi Shankar and Ganesh, who took the time and effort to come teach. In my opinion, both of them deserve huge praise because they signify the very spirit of the Wikipedia community : The willingness to share knowledge. 

After the initial introduction to Wikipedia, Ravi suggested the team split into two teams so that there can be better attention and interaction. This worked wonders.  It was a very interactive learning session more driven by Q&A. 

There were two learning hurdles to cross.  The first is typing in Tamil. While all the participants knew Tamil and how to write, very few knew how to type in Tamil. The audience were taught transliteration techniques where one can type in Tamil and the software automatically converts into Tamil.  

The second hurdle is learning how to edit Wikipedia.  I must say that for a total fresher, Wikipedia editing can be a steep learning curve. No, I'm not talking about simple spelling correction. I'm talking about adding a new article, adding reference articles, adding new photographs etc. Now, lets not even go near adding tables and including templates.  Those are *waay* too complex.   

It's a good thing that Wikimedia Foundation is seriously looking at simplifying the editing into a WYSIWYG (simple visual editing) method. 

Ravi, who did his doctorate in Netherlands, showed exceptional love for both the language and Wikipedia. He had a natural teaching aptitude and patiently handheld the newcomers through the world of Wikis. 

A huge shout of appreciation should also go to Natkeeran, a tamilian living in Cananda and a prolific Wikipedian, who showed exceptional interested in getting eveyone together for this academy. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he constantly wrote in with encouragements and proactively wrote to many people to come volunteer to teach.

The local neighbourhood newspaper played an important role in spreading the message. While the English Wikipedia Academies always had better response in terms of attendance, I realized that it was difficult to reach out to people interested in Tamil Wikipedia through the blog network. That's when I realized the power of local media. 

Anyone can start a Wikipedia Academy. The whole idea is to get a small place where people who are interested in Wikipedia can learn.  You can do this in your home, school or a nearby park. You don't need to take permission from anyone to conduct an academy. It's very low cost too. 

It would be great to see such Wikipedia Academies take place all over India. Be it cities, towns or villages. If you need any assistance, there are many of us who are eager to help assist you. Please call me at 98415 97744 or email Kiruba @ Kiruba.com. 

Tamil Wikipedia Academy on Jan 18th

Here's an opportunity to learn how to edit Wikipedia in Tamil. In this 3rd edition of Wikipedia Academy, we will get learn from experienced Wikipedians who have spent many years contributing to Tamil Wikipedia.

One of the major objectives of the Global Wikimedia Foundation is to grow the contribution to regional languages worldwide. The Indian Chapter of Wikimedia Foundation will focus heavily on encouraging regional language contribution.

While there are a healthy number of Indian volunteers who contribute to Wikipedia, most help out in English. Regional languages, for example, Tamil Wikipedia, pales in comparision. Another matter of concern is that most of the edits are done by Tamilians who live outside Tamilnadu. Most of these are passionate Tamil lovers who live in US, UK and other countries. It's time we encouraged more people in Tamilnadu.

There's a lot of good intent to help. It could just be the case of sheer ignorance. That's where the Tamil Wikipedia Academy aims to help out.

We have experienced Wikipedians like Ravi, Sundar, Mayuranathan and Ganesh who have volunteered to come help teach. Learn more here.

We'll also use this opportunity to meet together to discuss on what strategies we can use to grow Tamil Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome. You don't necessarily have to deal with Tamil Wikipedia. Any Wikipedia enthusiast who is willing to volunteer and help out with ideas and efforts is welcome.

Please take note of the venue and the timings.

Day: Sunday, January 18th.

Time: 3 pm to 5 pm

Venue: F5ive Technologies, C-1, Raj Paris Apts, 82, Kamaraj Steet, Virugambakkam, Chennai - 92.

Directions: On Arcot Road, after Avichi School and a big Raymond's Showroom, take the first right. This is Kamaraj Street. After 100 meters, the road splits into right and left. (a 'T' junction). The venue is exactly at this 'T' junction. It's opposite to an Amman Temple.

Call for help: Should you need help, please call me at 98415 97744 or email Kiruba@Kiruba.com

We request you to help pass the word around to friends who might be interested. Please blog or tweet this information. Thanks in advance.

Nila Soru : Re-living a Childhood Memory

Pic by Bohemian

The full moon was stunning. I don't remember the last time I've seen it this bright. Maybe it had to do with the power cut. I stood watching it for a full minute soaking in its beauty. It reminded me of my childhood days.

Back in Rettani, my maternal village near Tindivanan, we kids would gather around on the terrace and our aunt would feed us 'Sambhar Boova' (that's kidspeak for sambhar rice). With outstretched hands, we would receive riceballs in turns while listening to some fascinating story.

My journey down memory lane was cut short when the power came back. The bright city lights diminished the luminosity of the moon. No wonder we never notice it that often. That's when I thought about my kids and felt bad for them. Will they ever get to experience the small pleasues that we were fortunate to enjoy. An idea struck me. Why not have a 'Nila Soru' dinner tonight?



My wife and Mom are a fantastic sport. I told them the idea and they were party to it immediately. They made nice sambhar rice (with lots of ghee, yumm) and potato 'poriyal'. The kids in our apartment are a connected lot and the word spread quickly. They all assembed on the terrace and after a bit of dancing and playing, it was food time.

The only person missing though was the moon! At 8:30 pm, no sight of the main character. I was told he'd take time to come up. We were all hungry and decided to go ahead.

My wife placed rice balls in each kid's hand one by one. I followed by keeping the potato sidedish. The kids seemed to love it. Just the sight of joy on their faces was worth it. In our daily rush and a commercialized lifestyle, we fail to realize the happiness in small things. Many of the kids parents came up to the terrace too and it was their chance to reminiscence about their childhood.

Podcast: Mark Yolton, Head of SAP Communities, on Social Media

I'm passionate about Social Media and even more interested in knowing how Companies leverage the Net effectively. I've been closely following how some of the leading companies globally use social media. One company in the list is SAP,the World's biggest business application software company. I've been impressed with them specifically with the way they have built their communities both amongst developers and business professional.

There are over 1 million members in SAP community and they have used both online Enterprise 2.0 strategies and real world events to actively engage them.

When I was invited to attend SAP TechEd, it was just the opportunity I needed to meet Mark Yolton, the key person behind SAP communities. Mark comes with over 20 years of experiece and has held senior management profiles at Oracle, PeopleSoft and Sun Microsystems. Watch the interview.


Kiruba Interviews Mark Yolton, Head, SAP Community Network from kiruba on Vimeo.

The New Year Celebration I Won't Forget in a Long Time

In 13 years since our apartment has been built, this is the first year that a New Year has been jointly celebrated. When we took over the responsibility of the apartment association during mid-2008, this was on the must-do list. And huge credit should go to the kids for pulling a remarkable event together. I was pleasantly surprised by their organizing skills and financial acumen.


The kids performing a dance for the song 'Yeh Ishq hai' from Jab We Met. I must've listened to this song a hundred times while they were rehearing the dance at my home. My wife was the troupe's choreographer.

Notice the colourful screen in the background. It's made out of 64 sarees, generously lent by the ladies in the apartment.

There were many games during the 3 hour event. One such is the musical chair contest for men.


The buffet was the highlight of the celebration. Each home took the responsibility of cooking one special item of their choice for everyone. It reminded me of unconferences where folks picked up their own topic to speak. We had over 3o items and I can tell that this can rival any 5 star hotel food.


Just before midnight, we all got together for a group photo. That's just half of them. Few had to leave for churches and temples for New Year Pooja.


We bought some classy fireworks (these are monstrous guys) and we timed it beautifully with the New Year countdown. Then came a huge cake where the eldest couple and the youngest kid in the apartment jointly cut the cake. Then followed a melee of cream splashing spree!

To see the unity amongst the residents and the amazing spirit and talent of the kids was fantastic. A New Year Celebration I won't forget in a long time.